Ryōshi
Ryōshi (漁師, Ryoushi) is an resident of the lowest class, born and raised in one of the farthest villages from the actual city. A simple fisherman who makes a living spending his days along the banks of the Akakōro River, though his business has drastically been hurt by the recent warring going on among Amegakure and Iwagakure - as the Akakōro rests along the border of (which is currently facing the blunt of Iwagakure's force). Ryōshi is a simple man with simple desires, not wanting to get wrapped up in the dilemmas of shinobi, though as a simple civilian he finds that their problems often become his own. Personality To call Ryōshi a man of good nature is an understatement. He has not fallen to the lure of negativity and darkness that has befallen many of his village and of his country. It stands as a testament to all - how a simple fisherman can overcome that which shinobi have been fighting over and dealing with for the past century - a sense of inner turmoil that breaks them until nothing but a husk of broken dreams is left. No matter what Ryōshi faces, no matter how black, he has not let himself slip. His mother's sudden death, his father's decline into alcoholism and then killing himself, and finally his uncle's death by Ryōshi's own hands - Ryōshi knows what it's like to lose. By all accounts his humanity should have been long dead, left for the crows to pick at until only the bones are left, but he never gave up. His spirit is hard, just like his father. Even when all was lost, Ryōshi refused to leave his ancestral home, never once letting the constant threats of terror and disaster and destruction drive him from his last connection to his home and where his parents graves lie side by side. Ryōshi holds his father in high regard, despite his unsavory end, not for his actions but for seeing how much losing the women he love affected him so many years after their marriage. His passion and love for her was unending, and in an odd way, Ryōshi admired that. War never changes and though he is a virgin to the concept of it, having been born in an area that has normally been free of strife, Ryōshi sees it coming up on the horizon. He cannot stop it, nor will he try to. Ryōshi will do what he must, not for the sake of surviving, but for the sake of not letting all of what his parent's left behind to be destroyed in the process. Ryōshi is not a shinobi, a warrior, or a killer. He is a man. Appearance Ryōshi is lean and fit, as one would assume a young man of his age and build would be. Fishing has built up quite a strength in him and his hands have grown tough with age, tough and calloused and prone to scab. He has quite a smile to him, which many seem odd considering the drear lifestyle the people of his village live. Long brown hair hangs down past his ears, his bangs neatly cut, despite how unkempt the rest of his hair is - and his piercing red eyes are often regarded as shifty and untrustworthy. He wears very simple clothing - a white shawl tied at the waist above a pair of underpants and a bandaged waist, along with a pair of sandals, cloth gloves and cloth ankle wear. He wraps a neat white hat around him, to keep his head dry in the frequent storms and rain showers that befall Amegakure. Biography Named for his father's profession, his father's father's profession, and his father's father's father's profession - Ryōshi is a fisherman by trade and by blood. He was born on a rainy day, which isn't uncommon for the people of Amegakure, but was said to have heralded a very good fishing season by the villagers. Because their little village was so far off from the rest of the Land of Rain, and Amegakure in general, they were not caught up in the civil war that was developing in Amegakure at the time - nor did they know about it. For the people of Ryōshi's village, stories trickled in about how Hanzō the Salamander and his family were killed by foreign shinobi and a new leader resumed control over Amegakure, calling for an end to all war. Some people from Ryōshi's village left home and migrated into the city of Amegakure to pledge their loyalty and lives to this new leader - including Ryōshi's uncle. When Ryōshi was five or six, he recalls his uncle returning home, with a scratched headband, trying to convince the other villagers to proclaim for "Lord Pain". None followed and his uncle left in anger. The life of a fisherman's son in this time period, having just followed a bloody civil war, was quite good. People needed fish to eat and the weather was growing better as the days went on. The village was prosperous for some time - that was until the fish stopped coming in the vast amounts they once had. The village was losing money by the day, which turned into weeks, then months. Soon people were leaving everything behind to move into the village, to serve in the only other way, as laborers and merchants and armed shinobi (though very few possessed any skills whatsoever). Ryōshi's family stayed however. They were tied to this place by several generations, having survived every war, and every disaster that had befallen the village. They would not fall to a small shortage of fish. Eventually Ryōshi's mother fell to sickness, and his father to alcohol. At the age of eighteen, word came that Lord Pain was killed, and soon after Ryōshi's uncle returned home. He wanted Ryōshi to come with him, to join him in an attempt to kill Lord Pain's murderer, but Ryōshi wasn't as foolish as his uncle. He refused and was nearly beaten to death by his uncle, who called him a coward and a fool, then proceeded to blame him for his mother's sickness and father's death. Ryōshi snapped and beat his uncle to death, then and there, in the home where he was raised. His uncle's body sat in a bloody mess on the floor, staring emptily up at Ryōshi. He was a fisherman a time ago, but now he was a murderer. Before anyone could find out, Ryōshi carried his uncle to a boat and brought him out to sea, dumping the body into the seas. Miraculously, the fish started to return a week later, and Ryōshi commenced his life long profession of fishing. Abilities Ryōshi is not a strong man, lacking much coordination or power whatsoever. He cannot mold chakra like a shinobi or even perform . He can fight, somewhat, normally throwing simple punches and kicks to take out non-shinobi opponents at bars normally. He is a great swimmer, having been taught by his father at a young age. Ryōshi lives part-time in the seas, so it is only natural that he excels at swimming. Normally wielding a pocket knife in fights, which he uses to scale and gut fish, Ryōshi believes that he is armed enough should he be attacked - ignoring how powerful and dangerous some shinobi can be. Though he is also quite skilled with throwing spears and catching with nets, and using the environment to his advantage - against trained armies of shinobi who can manipulate the elements themselves - Ryōshi stands little chance. Quotes